Musical instrument support



Aug. 16, 1966 T. v. LINVILLE, JR 3,266,766

7 MUSICAL INSTRUMENT SUPPORT Filed Jan. 51, 1964 Mil] V INVENTOR. TALMAGE V LINVILLE, JR.

'7', BYz 2 United States Patent 3,266,766 MUSICAL INSTRUMENT SUPPORT Talmage V. Linville, Jr., 2971 North 325 East,

Provo, Utah Filed Jan. 31, 1964, Ser. No. 341,638 3 Claims. (Cl. 248359) This invention relates to supports for musical instruments and more particularly to supports for maintaining the mouthpiece of woodwind instruments at a proper height above the floor or ground, so that the musician does not have to constantly lift his instrument.

There have been a number of supports for musical instruments devised in the past, some of which I am familiar with. These have required the drilling of a plurality of holes into the body of the instrument, tapping the drilled holes and inserting threaded screws to hold a receptacle, which, in turn, is interiorly threaded and receives a threaded end of a support peg. The holes drilled for the retaining screws are necessarily shallow, since they cannot extend through the instrument wall without adversely affecting the musical qualities of the instrument.

When the instrument is in use, the usual support pegs extend from the shallow hole to the floor, and the weight of the instrument places large bending moments on them. Since the threaded part of the peg is its weakest portion, it is frequently broken off, with the threaded portion of the peg remaining in the receptacle. Furthermore, the screws used to attach the receptacle to the instrument create a weakened area and an entire section of instrument wall is often broken free. In either instance repairs must generally be made by a person equipped with the necessary tools and trained in instrument repair.

A principal object of the present invention is to provide a musical instrument support that does not require drilling or tapping; that can be employed on all wind instruments having a vertically positioned length intermediate a mouthpiece and a resonance tube outlet, such as the base clarinet; that does not have any support rod end portions weakened by threading; that is braced over a substantial portion of its length; and that will not in any way harm the instrument it supports.

Principal features of the invention are a support rod; a pair of instrument clamps having a lining of soft material, mounted for sliding movement along the support rod; means for fixing the position of one of the clamps with respect to the rod; and means for fixing both of the clamps with respect to the instrument to be supported.

There is shown in the accompanying drawing a specific embodiment of the invention representing what is presently regarded as the best mode of carrying out the generic concepts in actual practice. From the detailed description of this presently preferred form of the invention,

other more specific objects and features will become apparent.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of thesupport of the invention with a bass clarinet, shown fragmentarily, being supported;

FIG. 2, an isometric view of the support;

FIG. 3, a top plan view;

FIG. 4, a side elevation view; and

FIG. 5, a horizontal section taken on line 55 of FIG. 4. 1

Referring now to the drawing:

In the illustrated preferred embodiment the support, shown generally at 10, is adapted to maintain a musical instrument, such as the bass clarinet shown fragmentarily at 11, a pre-set distance above the floor.

The support includes a rigid metal support rod 12, grooved with spaced shallow grooves 13 that assist in preventing undesired displacement of the instrument along the length of the rod, as will become apparent. The rod is capped at its bottom end with a cap 14 made of a nonslip material, such as rubber.

A pair of instrument clamps 15 and 16 are provided to encircle the vertically positioned tube of the instrument. Each clamp includes a support rod encircling collar 17 and a flexible instrument encircling portion 18. The instrument encircling portion of each clamp further includes a flexible band 19 fixed intermediate its ends to collar 17, an adjustment screw 20 in a housing 21 fixed to one end of band 19, and openings 22 in the band arranged to coincide with the threads of the adjustment screw, such that rotation thereof will move the loose end through housing 21 to vary the size of the opening formed within the band. The instrument encircling portion of each clamp is lined with soft material such as felt fabric 23, that prevents scratching of the instrument.

Both clamps are freely rotatable with respect to rod 12 and are slidable lengthwise thereof. However, one clamp, here shown as clamp 14, is additionally provided with a set screw 24 that when screwed in through collar 17 protrudes into one of the shallow, spaced grooves 13 and prevents further movement of the clamp with respect to the rod.

In use, bands 19 of the clamps 15 and 16 are placed in spaced relationship around a vertically positioned portion of the tube of the instrument, and the screws 20 are tightened so that the bands tightly grip the instrument.

Support rod 12 is positioned within collars 17 such that it extends beyond the bottom of the instrument to hold it the desired distance from the floor, and so that a groove 13 is aligned with set screw 24. The set screw is then tightened into the nearest groove 13, to fix the position of the instrument and the clamps with respect to the supporting rod. Since the rod is supported throughout a great portion of its length and is not weakened by the formation of threads at a support end, it does not tend to snap off at the support. Furthermore, since the instrument encircling portions 18 are adjustable, the support is usable for a great many different instruments having varying tube sizes. Because the rod encircling collars are movable along the length of the rod, the height of the instrument above the floor, or ground, can be readily varied to suit the individual musician and the particular instrument.

Whereas there is here illustrated and specifically described a-certain preferred construction of apparatus which is presently regarded as the best mode of carrying out the invention, it should be understood that various changes may be made and other constructions adopted without departing from the inventive subject matter particularly pointed out and claimed herebelow.

I claim:

1. A support for musical instruments having a tube section vertically positioned during playing thereof, said support comprising a straight rod; a ground engaging member on one end of said rod, said member being made of a non-slip material; a plurality of musical instrument encircling clamps, each including a collar separately slidable along the rod and carrying a flexible band and a means for changing the relative positions of the ends of the band to adjust the diameter of a loop formed thereby; and means for fixing the position of one of the clamps along the length of the rod.

2. A support for musical instruments according to claim 1, wherein the means for fixing the position of one of the clamps along the length of the rod includes a set screw adapted to be tightened against said rod; and where in the collars of the remainder of the clamps are freely slidable along the length of the rod.

3. A musical instrument support according to claim 2,

r 3 further including a soft fabric material lining the inside of the loop formed by the flexible band; and a plurality of spaced grooves encircling the rod, said grooves being adapted to receive the rod-engaging end of the set screw.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 9/1918 Ritchie 248229 X 6/1920 Smith 248-230 4 8/1923 Hindley 248-12 4 3/1961 Bellamy 248156 X 10/1962 Mayer 248231 X FOREIGN PATENTS 11/ 1953 France.

CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner.

J. PETO, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A SUPPORT FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS HAVING A TUBE SECTION VERTICALLY POSITIONED DURING PLAYING THEREOF, SAID SUPPORT COMPRISING A STRAIGHT ROD; A GROUND ENGAGING MEMBER ON ONE END OF SAID ROD, SAID MEMBER BEING MADE OF NON-SLIP MATERIAL; A PLURALITY OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENT ENCIRCLING CLAMPS, EACH INCLUDING A COLLAR SEPARATELY SLIDABLE ALONG THE ROD AND CARRYING A FLEXIBLE BAND AND A MEANS FOR CHANGING THE RELATIVE POSITIONS OF THE ENDS OF THE BAND TO ADJUST THE DIAMETER OF A LOOP FORMED THEREBY; AND MEANS FOR FIXING THE POSITION OF ONE OF THE CLAMPS ALONG THE LENGTH OF THE ROD. 